Paperback 135: Aphrodite / Pierre Louys (Avon 113)

Aphrodite is seen here doing an ancient version of the Men Without Hats classic "Safety Dance," only instead of forming an "S" with her arms, she is forming a psi ("Psafety Dance!")

If you put your thumb over this lady's head (which is to say, her ridiculous headdress), she is almost look-at-able.

Nice clip art in the background there, Picasso!

I kinda like how the border of this cover echoes the borders of her robe and negligee. That is about all I kinda like about this cover.

Pierre Louys was what passed for a soft porn writer in the 40s. Him and Zola.

Best things about this back cover:

A great example of an early paperback, from an age when publishers were still anxious about the social status of this fledgling product (mass market paperbacks having come into being only 7 years earlier). "GOOD" "GREAT" "SHAKESPEARE-HEAD" ... nothing at all about the content of the book itself; just a lot of weirdly over-reaching sales copy ("can easily be washed clean"???)

The Pagan ones are more interesting. The Christian ones are good if you have insomnia. And I'm waiting for Jewish Romances. (Seriously, I tried searching them up, only got that one Striesand movie and a book called The Saturday Wife, which was most certainly not a romance.)

About Me

Welcome to Pop Sensation

Now With a Regular Publication Schedule!:

New Paperbacks Every Monday and Friday!

This site is dedicated to my vintage paperback collection. Every couple of days, I pull a book off the shelf and write about its cover. That's it. To understand the spirit of the blog, please read the following: